SELF RESCUE

In a way, your diver training to this point has already taken you into the rudimentary levels of Rescue Diver training. Your PADI Open Water Diver course and Advanced Open Water Diver or Advanced Plus course introduced and developed your self rescue skills by teaching you how to prevent and handle problems you might come across while diving. At this point, you're ready to further develop these skills.

Self rescue means that you're self reliant, which every diver should be, of course, but your confidence in your self reliance becomes crucial when dealing with an emergency. Before you can cope with another diver’s problem, you must believe that you won't endanger yourself. If you don't believe that, you probably won't initiate a rescue. Furthermore your ability to calm and assist a victim may be affected by whether the victim trusts your capabilities as a diver. For discus­sion, we can divide self rescue into preparation, prevention and perfor­mance.